Germana Carillo Made by director Eva Orner, "Brandy Hellville" is a reportage not to be missed, which highlights the damage to the environment and the entire system of exploitation within the clothing brand that is one of the most loved by teenagers.
@Brandy Melville
It takes but a second to go from Melville to HELLville, the time it takes to realize that the clothing empire loved by Gen Z, which has exploded in the U.S., conceals a real hellishness. Behind the mask of this brand lies a world of exploitation, racism, and unreachable standards of beauty haunting youth all over the world.
And now it’s out – ice and all, in a gripping HBO documentary, Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion.
Helmed by acclaimed filmmaker Eva Orner, this is a documentary not to be missed for its revelations on environmental damage and exploitative practices within one of the teen’s most popular clothing brands.
The rise of Brandy Melville
Owning at least one “one size fits all” Brandy Melville piece was a crucial aim for young girls in their early 2010s. At the same time, it is crucial to remember that this brand concerns itself with promoting standards of beauty that, basically, are unreachable; this inherently provokes frustration and low self-esteem among young women.
Despite the brand name, it was founded in 1994 in Italy by Stephan Marsan along with his father Silvio Marsan. The brand grew exponentially after opening its first store in Los Angeles in 2009 and reached $212.5 million in revenue by 2023. The U.S. has some 30 stores, while a total of 90 outlets exist globally.
The dark side of fast fashion
As it was explained in the HBO documentary, that is the dark side of this empire, where the “one size” model encourages young customers to just consume more, by buying low-cost clothes made with an underpaid labor force. Orner has documented testimony about discriminatory labor practices and the environmental effects of fabrics discarded into landfills and water sources worldwide.
This is a film that has shown fast fashion to be a problem even in wider contexts, the consequences of which cannot be overlooked.
